A pair of high-tech Army blimps is coming to the greater Washington, DC area, and soon they will be able to provide the military with surveillance
powers that spans hundreds of millions of acres from North Carolina to Niagara Falls, Canada.

The airships are part of Raytheon’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and when all is said and done
they’ll offer the United States military what the defense contractor calls “an affordable elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system”
that relies on “a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.”

If these blimps are used for monitoring the east coast against possible threats then that's great. I think they will also be used for spying on
residents and in my opinion that is just wrong.

Once above the nation’s capital, JLENS will allow the Army to see for 320 miles in any direction from 10,000 feet above the earth. The system can be
set up to operate on its own for an entire month without requiring refueling, and offers the Pentagon surveillance capabilities that dwarf other
options at a penny of the cost.

To provide that security, though, the Army will send its integrated pair of airships — around 75 yards in length each — high into the sky carrying
“powerful radars that can look deep into enemy territory.” First, however, the residents of the metropolitan Washington, DC area — and those in
around a dozen states stretching the mid-Atlantic into New England — will be asked to ignore a pair of sophisticated spying machines.

“powerful radars that can look deep into enemy territory.”

WTH??? Am I missing something? What enemy?

According to PopSci, the JLENS already successfully completed two exercises in 2012 in which it guided a missile to shoot down other missiles — one
over sea, another over land.

But while the likelihood of having one of the airships shoot down an armed drone heading for the White House seems unlikely, it’s a precaution that
the Army intends on being prepared for — even at the widespread cost of losing privacy.

I think things are getting way out of control. What do you guys think?

These huge blimps seem very interesting. I am sure top secret stuff would be implemented in such systems.

I will speculate they will use huge solar panels on the thing to power a laser that could take out targets within line of sight.

What is to stop these things from dropping a cable with grappling pincers and grabbing and pulling people up in the black of night? Surly a RC cable
guidance system could be conceived of to guide the cable to a target. Then abducted up and away.

With an array of big floating things around the city it also makes me wonder of something they all will be used for in unison.

For these blimps to work in the manner described they would have to hover at very high altitudes. 50-80,000 feet at the very least.

While I am unconcerned by the military having surveillance technology, I am concerned with the NSA, DHS and others having this at their disposal. Any
new surveillance system should be vetted by congress.

Distance in statute miles = 1.4*sqrt (height in ft).
Distance in nautical miles = 1.23*sqrt(height in ft).

They don't scale perfectly (i.e nautical to statute), but these are just common rules of thumb.

This yields 140 statute miles from the center, i.e. radius. Thus the circle is 280 statute miles for one airship. It isn't clear how they will deploy
two.

Pointing out the obvious here, this system would have a single point of failure, namely the dirigible. [Shoot one down and it is degraded
surveillance. Shoot two down and you are off line.] Further, the city is not denied territory. You can have multiple sensor locations on tall
buildings or mountains. I'm sure they do already. Not as good as the eye in the sky, but good enough and quite stealthy.

Remember in DC, nothing can be taller than the Washington Monument. Thus it is not a very vertical town.

The problem is all the FAA radar we have is not capable of height finding. It certainly can't be used for military purposes. So supposedly the country
is vulnerable except for the Pavepaws and other schemes. Post 9/11 the Pavepaws received a major upgrade, much to the chagrin on ham radio operators
who shared the same spectrum.

theory; these will be airborne radar units in case of saucer attack. (or another airborne terrorist op)
remember, they came in 1952 (Truman was still pres) (saucers, not terrorists)
as I understand it there is a 24/7 combat air patrol over DC. this might replace them.

I like. airships are way cool.

cue Alan Parson; I am the eye in the sky...
I can read your email. I mean, I can read your mind...

fyi; the Navy has been flying airships out of Pax River (NAS Patuxent, a few miles south of DC) for some years now. possibly testing the platform.
iirc they were used to monitor the Gulf after the oil spill en.wikipedia.org...

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